


Playing it Out

by jdjunkie



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-27
Updated: 2012-01-27
Packaged: 2017-10-30 05:03:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/328045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jdjunkie/pseuds/jdjunkie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“It doesn’t have to be a thing ... we could be friends, with benefits.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Playing it Out

**Author's Note:**

> Commentfic written to paian's prompt at fic_promptly: Jack/Janet, mint.

“Dinner was nice,” Jack said, stirring more sugar than he should into his coffee.  
  
“It was delicious. Also, it wasn’t a TV dinner for one eaten after a 14-hour shift, so, frankly, it was always going to be delicious.” Janet smiled, her cheeks dimpling.  
  
“The company was great,” Jack added, because it was true. Janet was wonderful company; sharply witty, lively, opinionated, the perfect antidote to a day spent 28 floors underground, off-rotation, working the paperwork mines.  
  
Across the table, Jack saw her eyes narrow. “You’re scary when you’re complimentary.”  
  
“You’re scary _all_ the time.”  
  
Janet threw her head back and laughed. Her laugh was pretty much the embodiment of her – warm and honest and beautiful.  
  
“It’s in my job description.”  
  
“Then you’re performing to the very highest level, Doctor. Your next eval is in the bag.”  
  
Janet took a long sip of coffee, then delicately, slowly, pushed the china cup and saucer away, taking great care. If Jack didn’t know any better, he’d have thought she was playing for time. She splayed delicate hands, hands that had saved so many lives, including his, on the linen tablecloth. “And for that very reason, I’m going to say goodnight and thank you for a really, _really_ , enjoyable night.”  
  
Jack licked his lips. It was always going to come to this moment and he’d played it out in his head a hundred times. “You don’t have to. We could skip the after-dinner mints. Go somewhere ...”  
  
“We can’t go back, Jack. We’re not the people we were then, and I can’t quite believe you’re making me sound like a character in one of those books I read in the bath.”  
  
“You still do that?”  
  
“Hey, ask any woman. It’s one of the joys in life.”  
  
He leaned across the table towards her, catching a hint of her floral scent, remembering how the perfume smelled on her neck, how her skin was soft and so sensitive. “I don’t do your evals,” he said, levelly.  
  
Janet leaned towards him, brown eyes intense and beguiling. “But you have the ear of the man who does.” She tore her gaze away and rummaged in her purse. “I haven’t eaten a decade of lonely TV dinners to end up the subject of base gossip and with my career on the line. I think too much of myself, and you, god help me, for that.” She pulled out the cream silk scarf she’d been looking for and wound it round her neck.  
  
Damn. Not the same people and now there was too much at stake. But he couldn’t give her up, again, without a fight.  
  
“It doesn’t have to be a thing ... we could be friends, with benefits.”   
  
They both knew the score. He didn’t need to explain how good it could be to share a bed and more after some of the things they saw. How, sometimes, that could be the only thing that held you together and allowed you to go on.  
  
This time, when she fixed her eyes on him, they’d lost that chocolate warmth. “You are such an ass sometimes ... Colonel.”  
  
Jack sighed. “It could be your ass ... Doctor.”  
  
Janet stood and laid some bills on the table. “In my infirmary, it _is_ my ass. The rest of the time, it’s all yours.” She leaned across and placed a gentle, warm kiss on his cheek. “But I’ve always got your six,” she said, giving him one last smile before heading for the door.  
  
ends


End file.
